I think it will be a McCain-Obama race, and ultimately, the VP candidates will be a wash as far as help hurt issues. McCain is a true American Hero, and deserves respect for it, and while he is older, 71 is not dead-Reagan was an older president. I had the opportunity to meet Obama when he ran for Senate in IL, he is articulate, intelligent, an active listener, and responds to what people actually ask him. He and I differ on many issues, but it is hard not to be impressed with him. He is young, and I would love it if he had more experience, but then both Kennedy and Teddy Roosevelt were young and relatively inexperienced when they became president.
I am not a fan of Hillery, and admit it was hard to find to find a good comparison for her, but Nixon was a mean nasty jerk,with a law degree, who was willing to swallow almost anything to be president.
I am not a fan of the way we select our nominees. Both parties are dominated by the extreme arm of the party. I think this is the case because they vote, they speakup, and they put money into play. In the DemocraticParty, they cater to the liberal left, and in the GOP they cater to the right wing. In the general election they cross each other out, but in the primaries they are a larger pct of the available voters, and many middle of the roaders don't vote in primaries (or go back and forth between the parties, or choose not to claim a party, effectively eliminating themselves from many primaries).
During the primaries the candidates go hat in hand to the assorted power brokers in the party (the dems actually hand seats to these power brokers as super delegates-the GOP may also, but it hasn't been in the news on a daily basis). Then when we have two nominees who have spent months in state after state telling the right people the right things, and passing muster with the extremes, they then spend the last months trying to convince the vast middle of the voting population (many who already fed up with politics) that they are average middle of the road americans who will not cater to the special interests who they will need in 4 years.
McCain and Obama at least weren't the worst offenders of the suckle at the teat of the extremes and the special interests (but they did belly up occasionally). This may be a result of the record turnouts of folks who aren't traditional primary voters (the young, independentss, moderates, parents in two income households). McCain and Obama are both intelligent men who care about the country, and differ on how to proceed into the future (neither is perfect-but neither was lincoln-I can say that without threat of prosecution since I am notcurrently in Illinois). The system has problems. Maybe if the inaugeration parties didn't seem like a celebration of the fact that the Presidential race was over for at least a few weeks.
The issue I wonder about is why haven't we annexed canada? They are clearly covered by manifest destiny. They have resources we could suck up
